For every chord in any song there are certain notes which are more important than others. The root note is the most important followed by the 3rd as the 3rd determines the tonality of the chord (see major and minor). Whilst it is true that the root note remains the same for both major and minor chords, it is still important to understand about the other notes so you can move off the root note with confidence. The section on walking bass lines explains how to choose four suitable notes for each bar of a jazz or blues progression.

If playing a ballad you might also want to consider using alternative bass notes or playing some sort of counter melody. Although there are guidelines to help write a complementary melody such as using notes from the appropriate mode, it is often best to experiment too. Ideally, you will use a combination of both as improvisation need not be trial and error.

The following chart has been written to help explain some of the conventions you will encounter when reading chord charts. The bass has been deliberately left out. Throughout enable Bass you have hundreds of bass examples so this section is specifically about you making up your own part.

• Bar numbers are not usually written on jazz charts but they have been included here to assist in drawing your attention to particular bars.

• The piece is swung, not because of the time signature but because of the note "Med. Swing" i.e. Medium tempo swing.

• Notice that there is no bass clef. This is because most songs have the melody written in treble clef.

• There are three sections to this tune (A,B and C). Section A is often called the "head" as it is usually contains the main melody. This tune uses 1st and 2nd time endings. The complete order of bars would be: 1-8, 1-4, 9-24. A slash chord has been used at bar 14. Whenever you see a / symbol the bass note is actually after the slash. E/G# is an E chord over a G# bass note. A "C section" such as the one commencing at bar 17 is often based on the A section but has some variation which warrants writing it out again, in this case the ending. The G7 chord at the end of bar 24 is in parentheses because you would only play it if you were repeating the tune. The final chord when ending the tune is Cmaj7.

The ability to navigate your way through a chord chart is one of your biggest responsibilities as a bassist as other musicians will often rely on you to do this. One of the best ways to avoid getting lost is to know the melody. Drummers tend to play fills at the end of every 8 bars which can also help when you're really lost. The chord progression itself will assist you as the tonal centre or turnaround pattern is usually at the end of the form.

The following animation explains repeat signs with 1st and 2nd time endings.

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